Title: By the Water
Author: Lilith
Spoilers: None really
Classification: VR, Scully/Mulder romance
Rating: NC-17
Notes, Disclaimers, etc.: see below
Summary: A find and a celebration.


"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty, wake up." I roll away 
from the noise and pull the blanket tighter around me. 

"Scully, come on, wake up," he pleads, shaking my 
shoulders.

I push through the clouds of comfortable sleep and 
peer up at him drowsily. He looks so happy. I have to 
smile. I can't help it; he's infectious, we've been smiling all 
day. Mulder is practically bouncing with energy, even 
though it's two am and everyone else in the house is 
exhausted and fell asleep hours ago. One look at his face 
though and I feel my energy returning. 

"Come on outside and play with me, Scully," he 
requests happily.

Happy, we are both so happy that we are giddy. 
And with damn good reason because you see, today we 
found her. Actually, I found her but that is rather beside the 
point. At the time, it struck me that I should have been 
frightened, but instead I felt stronger than I've ever been, 
holding her sodden body to me as she murmured confused 
words into my coat. 

"Mom? Is that you, Mom?"

She was so disconcerted when I pulled her out of 
the water. We nearly lost her forever, but they hadn't 
counted on the Mulder family's natural proclivity in the 
water. She managed to swim almost all the way to shore, 
which is where I found her, and waded waist deep into the 
water, and resuscitated her, and her red eyes and water-
logged mind confused me with her mother. On the shore, 
she grabbed my hand and kissed my cheek and said with 
certainty, "It's ok now."

down by the water
 {down by the water}
 i took her hand
 {i took her hand}
 just like my daughter
 {just like my daughter}
 see her again
 {see her again}

I could still hear that snippet of a song in the back 
of my head as Mulder drew her away from me and she 
started laughing with delight. And so did he. And so did I, 
and in the waiting room of the hospital, we called Skinner 
and his mother and the gunmen and we laughed some more. 
It was only when I was standing at the foot of her bed 
reading the medical charts that confirmed that she was 
human and the PCRs that showed she was definitely related 
to Mulder that he realized he hadn't introduced me. She 
just laughed and said, "Oh, I know who she is, Fox silly." 

She turned to face me. "I have a lot of things to tell you, 
Dana Scully." Then we took her home, at last. She fell 
asleep with her mother hours ago in the master bedroom of 
this absurdly lush house. 

"It's beautiful outside, Scully. Come on."

"Okay, Mulder. Let me get dressed."

He shakes his head. "No no no, Scully. No one's 
going to see you but me."

That doesn't matter anymore, does it? It won't 
soon. The inevitable that can't come soon enough is 
hanging over us still, but now it is the anticipation of 
Christmas morning and not an unpredictable cloud 
formation lurking on the horizon. I smirk and throw off the 
covers. He grabs my hand and we scurry down the stairs, 
glancing furtively at each other like a couple of kids 
sneaking out at a sleep-over and so afraid they'll get caught. 
He pulls me outside, drops my hand, and runs off the porch 
right into the summer rainstorm. He throws his head back 
and laughs. "Isn't it beautiful, Scully?"

I have to laugh because there isn't any other 
appropriate response to this question. Yes, it's beautiful. 
Mulder half naked in the rain, smiling like a blissful child is 
intensely beautiful. Mulder has always seemed childlike 
where his sister is involved, usually in a frightened helpless 
way. Tonight he is simply happy without a need to worry 
about anything but his own happiness. Yes, it is beautiful. 

"Scully!"

He is positively frolicking out there now. There is no 
other word for it. He is spinning around in circles in the 
rain, tossing his head from side to side. Droplets of water 
are flung from his hair and run down his chest. I envy them. 
He runs back up alongside the porch and lifts his arms up 
to me and says, "Dance we me Scully." I let him lift me 
from the porch and spin me around, soaking me through. I 
drop barefoot onto the wet clover and I grin at him. He 
grins back and pulls me tight against his chest. Without 
music, we are dancing in the rain, tangoing.

He dips me low, then pulls me back up so quickly 
my head spins. "Tell me I'm crazy, Scully," he shouts over 
the clap of thunder.

I throw my own head back and drink a mouthful of 
rain. "Mulder, you're crazy!"

He spins away into the rain again and calls back 
gleefully, "I am, and I don't care!"

"Neither do I," I yell back. 

"Scully, you're a wonderfully rigid angel," he 
informs me, beaming at me from under the clumps of wet 
hair clinging to his forehead.

"You're an impetuous, brilliant pain in the ass, 
Mulder."

He seems to like this remark. He spins me around 
once more and lets go of my hand. When he is in facing me 
he calls out, "I love you, Scully!" I can't move. Because I 
know he's serious, that he expects nothing from me, that he 
merely needed to say it for the same reason he needed to 
call me an angel. We both know, in the most honest parts 
of ourselves, that we are free after today. His arms open 
slightly and I march into them. "I love you," he repeats as I 
rest my cheek against the moisture gathered on his chest.

"I know, Mulder," I say. One hand brushes my hair 
away from my forehead and is replaced by his lips. He 
repeats the same ritual on my cheek and my temples. Then, 
at last, he kisses my mouth. Then he kisses me again, and 
again, and my hands clench in his drenched hair as he leans 
down to me. He pulls back and smiles at me in utter 
amazement. His hands leave my shoulders and wander 
down to my breasts. He cups them I feel my nipples harden 
against his palms through the practically nonexistent 
material of my wet pajamas. He feels it too. His reaction 
against my stomach sparks a buried ember of a fire I could 
never quite bring myself to douse.

"Wow," he says genuinely, as though he's truly 
amazed at the effect he is having on my body. I smile at 
him, lean against the support beam of the porch, and 
unbutton the pajama top. I want to feel the lines of his 
hands against my skin. He examines my skin inch by inch 
with his eyes before he touches me again. He is staring at 
my face, gauging my reactions as he runs his hands over me 
experimentally, over and over me. I nod at him, praying he 
won't stop. He doesn't and neither does the electric tingle 
that is coursing through me. He drops his mouth to my 
chest and I moan. I can't help it. Not when he's got his lips 
wrapped around my nipple and he is sucking hard as his 
tongue laves over the tip. Satisfied by my verbal response, 
he repeats the action. The sound of his name on my lips 
stops him and he takes my mouth again before he moves 
downward to press his mouth into my stomach, anointing 
my skins with kisses as his fingers hook into my pajama 
pants.

Oh my god.

In the backyard of his parents' house, in the middle 
the pouring rain, Fox Mulder is making love to me with his 
mouth and I am barely able to hold onto his shoulder and 
remain standing. I'm not even certain what I'm moaning., 
only that it sounds remotely like his name and god yes he is 
groaning against me in response. I am shaking and there is 
a fire all through me as his tongue continues to pleasure me. 
I have to watch him. His eyes meet mine and I feel him 
smile against me...oh. Mulder. I throw my head back, 
letting the rain caress me as his hands hold me firmly against 
his face and I feel my orgasm crash through me.
I drop onto his chest, still thrumming. I reach for his 
nipples with my teeth. My hands are ruthless as they 
explore him. I have to learn every inch of his chest, every 
crevice, every line. He mutters `yes yes yes' over and over 
as I strip off his pants and stroke him. "Oh god Scully." 
My mouth is on him immediately. I need to hear him do 
that again. He goes one better. He wraps his hands 
through my hair and jumps just slightly as my tongue swirls 
over him. One hand claims my breast again, kneading it as I 
move up and down him.

"Scully, you're perfect," he manages after several 
attempts at speech,

I lift my face from his groin and he covers it with 
kisses as he rolls me beneath him. "Yes," I sigh as his 
strong arms pin me to the ground. Under my back I can feel 
the warmth of the earth and smell the new grass and sweet 
crushed clover and above me there is nothing but Mulder's 
wet eyes and the flashes of his skin in the lightening. 
"Now." I am losing myself in this as my body searches for 
his in the darkness, my insides pulsating.

"I love you," he reminds me as he slips inside... oh 
god. I'm not even sure who's inside who anymore. I can't 
localize the sensation. It feels as though my entire body is 
being stroked at once as he moves languidly in and out, 
caressing my face with one hand. His eyes are gleaming. I 
wrap my legs around him and pull him closer, basking in it. 

"More," I order breathlessly.

He is pounding me into the earth now, with quick 
deft strokes that rip little gasps from my body. "Good?" he 
whispers shakily as he captures my mouth for one violent 
kiss.

"Mulder." I groan.

He growls. I repeat his name, he growls again, 
crushing me against the grass, moving faster and faster. 
"Tell me," he commands.

"Better than you expected and better than you 
hoped, Mulder," I manage breathlessly, thrusting up against 
him. I am close again, so soon. He leans down and nibbles 
at my earlobe. "My Scully," he declares.

I am gone. Fireworks? Orchestral melody? No, 
nothing so cliche could quantify this moment.

When I come back he is still moving, desperately 
searching for release, whimpering slightly, his face 
burrowed into my neck. "I love you, Mulder," I say and 
that is all he needs. Three more quick strokes and he lets 
loose a nameless cry and collapses against me.

My breath comes in quick sharp gasps as the 
aftershocks wisp over me gently. Raindrops pelt my face 
and run off his hair into my hands. I can feel the blades of 
grass against my skin where the pajama top has clumped 
away from my body. I can still feel him inside of me and 
above me and around me. He is everywhere, and I like that 
thought. He sighs peacefully in my ear and runs one hand 
through my damp hair. I am delirious with contentment.

"Say it again, Scully?"

"I love you, Mulder."

He squirms delightfully above me before rolling us 
over so that I am lounging on his chest. "You look 
incredible in the rain, Scully."

"So do you, Mulder."

He almost seems embarrassed. "We should 
probably go inside though."

"Yes, Mulder, we probably should. But let's stay 
here just another minute," I request, kissing his chin. He 
groans his assent.

A few hair strokes later, he says. "Let's go inside, 
Scully. I'm sleepy."

I huff a laugh at him. "What Mulder, you don't 
want to sleep out here in the rain with me?"

He laughs too. "Actually, I do. But this is a nice 
neighborhood and if the area patrol man finds us here in the 
morning, we're going to be in great big trouble."

"Mulder, we are in a constant sate of great big 
trouble," I needle him , even as I stand up and shake back 
my wet hair. We don't bother to put our soaked garments 
back on. In fact, we drop them on the porch and run up to 
his bedroom, towel off, dig out new cloths, and curl up 
together in his childhood bed. He pulls me close to his 
chest and I fall asleep with his hand over my heart.

"Fox, Fox, wake up!" I lift my sleepy head from 
Mulder's chest and see Samantha standing above us, smiling 
broadly. Mulder sighs and pulls me closer. 

"Hey dork face!" she calls out, leaning over him. 
"Get up already!" Mulder shifts again, then strikes out with 
his hand and tugs playfully at her hair.

"Okay, I'm up, butt munch. I'm up."

"Hey, telling Mom you've got a real live girl in your 
bed is going to be much more fun than telling her about the 
girlie magazine I found in it."

Mulder chuckles. "You never told Mom cause I 
bribed you with my famous marble cake. And watch it 
Samantha, people who refer to Scully as a `girl' tend to end 
up in hospitals."

"No one in the world makes a marble cake like you, 
big brother."

I have to sit up at this. "He baked?" I ask 
incredulously. Girlie magazines at twelve...that I can 
believe, but baking? She smiles. "You baked? Mulder, 
there's never anything but an expired milk carton in your 
fridge."

"I have all kinds of secrets, Scully," he informs me 
casually.

Samantha runs her eyes over us and Mulder 
reluctantly throws back the blankets. "Mom's not up yet, 
but I made pancakes," she adds.

Mulder makes a face and says, "Good thing I 
brought a doctor." She grins and bites her lip in order not 
to express her first thought. He wraps one arm around her 
and says, "Come on little sister, let's get some coffee into 
Dr. Scully," he suggests, holding his hand out to me. 

"Yes," she says, glancing pointedly at me. "There is 
so much I have to tell you."

I have a feeling I'm not going to require any coffee 
to jolt my system this morning. Her voice promises truths 
that are going to keep me awake for many nights to come, 
but now I won't have to spend them alone. 




Notes: This fanfic intended for entertainment purposes only
No infringements intended. No foxes were harmed in the 
making of this story. Big thanks to the ladies at the Haven. 
Song credit: PJ Harvey's "Down by the Water." 

Feedback: Yes please. This is my first post, and I'm 
nervous as all hell about it. Good? Bad? An embarrassment 
to authors everywhere? Just let me know.
cphilli@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu